FORT WASHINGTON, Pa., Aug. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- McNeil Nutritionals, LLC, the maker of SPLENDA® No Calorie Sweetener and SPLENDA® Sugar Blend for Baking, announced today a new campaign to re-invent the traditional school bake sale. The campaign, which will be conducted in collaboration with PTO Today, Inc., a parent teacher organization dedicated to serving the parent group market at elementary and middle schools nationwide, is designed to encourage kids and parents to raise money for their schools by baking lower-sugar treats with SPLENDA® Sugar Blend for Baking. The voluntary participation program will be launched at schools across the country in August 2005 and will run throughout the 2005-2006 school year.
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PTO Today is a leading resource for school parent group leaders across the country and will, through its vast community of parent leaders, disseminate all of the free materials related to its effort with McNeil Nutritionals to make bake sales easier and more successful. As a foundation of the campaign, the makers of SPLENDA® Brand Products will provide delicious reduced-sugar recipes for school bake sales, tips on how to incorporate fitness into a healthy eating plan, a complimentary bake sale kit, "Sweet Success: The Better Bake Sale Kit" for school parent group leaders and information on how to host a successful bake sale on www.schoolbakesales.com. In addition, the brand will sponsor "The SPLENDA® Contest for the Ultimate Bake Sale," an effort to promote bake sale participation, with the winning entry awarded money dedicated to children's nutritional education programs.

Though hosting bake sales has always been a successful method for raising funds to support important school activities, the nutrition environment has radically changed. Most noteworthy, parental concern about children's sugar consumption has reached a height (87% of all mothers are making a strong effort or some effort to limit their children's intake of sugar(1)). For this reason, McNeil Nutritionals developed an updated model of the bake sale that would address these concerns, providing a lower-sugar option.

"The traditional school bake sale is a highly popular, iconic activity already well embedded in elementary school culture. This initiative could not come at a better time and together with the SPLENDA® Brand, we're going to make it even better," said Tim Sullivan, President of PTO Today. "We are pleased to be working with the brand to create and promote a bake sale model for the 21st century, a model that takes the best bake sale ideas from schools across the country and combines them with an emphasis on the importance for nutrition and moderation. Healthy eating and parental involvement at school -- it's a great combination."

This modern bake sale format also reinforces the government's new dietary guidelines, which recommend choosing and preparing foods with less sugar and consuming less sugar- or starch-containing foods and beverages.(2)

The campaign gives parents and children the tools to make school bake sales more successful by providing complimentary reduced-sugar recipes made with SPLENDA® Sugar Blend for Baking, expert advice, posters and fliers for the bake sale's promotion, napkins to hand out with the treats sold, and a supplement on healthy eating and fitness for children. Additionally, the SPLENDA® Brand has collaborated with Nestle® Toll House® for the campaign, using the expertise of Nestle® Toll House® to develop a lower sugar, great tasting recipe that is bake sale appropriate and will be featured in the kit. All information will be available online as of mid-July to download and can be found at www.schoolbakesales.com.

"The SPLENDA® Brand Contest for the Ultimate Bake Sale" will encourage school groups to submit a photo online of the best SPLENDA® Brand Bake Sale for the chance to win money for their school. McNeil Nutritionals will make a charitable donation to the winning school, and in partnership with PTO Today, the money will be dedicated to programs with a particular focus on parent participation in children's nutritional education and needs.

"As a brand that encourages families to take easy, small steps to improve nutrition, we wanted to create a modern version of the bake sale that included important messages of sugar reduction without compromising the fun family experience," said John Leahy, Franchise Director, SPLENDA® Brand. "We feel that by working with PTO Today, and connecting with active school parent groups around the country, we'll be able to share ideas to improve nutrition with involved families and make a difference in thousands of children's lives."

About SPLENDA® Brand

SPLENDA® Brand products are marketed by McNeil Nutritionals, LLC. SPLENDA® Brand Sweetener is used in more than 4,000 products of major food brands worldwide. You can find out more about SPLENDA® or get recipes and tips on cooking and baking with SPLENDA® Brand products at www.SPLENDA.com or by calling 1-800-7-SPLENDA (1-800-777-5363).

SPLENDA® No Calorie Sweetener is made from sugar so it tastes like sugar, and consumers have quickly adopted it as their no calorie sweetener of choice. In 2003, it became the nation's #1 selling branded sweetener in retail outlets. SPLENDA® No Calorie Sweetener is available in packets and in a granular form that pours and measures like sugar and can be used in cooking and baking without losing sweetness. SPLENDA® No Calorie Sweetener, Granular is available in a 9.7 oz. Baker's Bag, equivalent in sweetness to 5 lbs. of sugar, as well as in 1- and 2-lb. sweetness equivalent boxes.

SPLENDA® Sugar Blend for Baking contains sugar and is a mix of SPLENDA® Brand Sweetener, or sucralose, and sugar. The product has only half the calories and carbohydrates of sugar per serving. SPLENDA® Sugar Blend for Baking allows consumers to achieve baked goods with browning, rising and texture. Consumers only need to use half a cup of SPLENDA® Sugar Blend for Baking to replace the sweetness of a full cup of sugar.

PTO Today, Inc. is the leading resource for school parent group leaders across the country. The company focuses on providing information and services to help parent groups serve schools more effectively, such as expert guides on key topics, insurance discounts, and free kits for organizing School Family Nights. PTO Today magazine, published six times a year, reaches a readership of more than 80,000 elementary and middle school parent group (PTO/PTA) leaders.

The Bitter Truth About NutraSweet (Aspartame) and Sucralose (Splenda ™)

"Aspartame (NutraSweet) appears to cause slow, silent damage in those unfortunate enough to not have immediate reactions and a reason to avoid it. It may take one year, five years, 10 years, or 40 years, but it seems to cause some reversible and some irreversible changes in health over long-term use. "Aspartame has a profound effect on mood and cognition
....depressed mood, anxiety, dizziness, panic attacks, nausea, irritability, impairment of memory and concentration." Ralph Walton, M.D.

The testing of sucralose reveals that it can cause up to 40 percent shrinkage of the thymus: a gland that is the very foundation of our immune system. Sucralose also causes swelling of the liver and kidneys, and CALCIFICATION of the kidney. Note: if you experience kidney pain, cramping, or an irritated bladder after using sucralose in Splenda, stop use immediately. Dr. Janet Starr Hull: :-x

(Aspartame is the technical name for the brand names, NutraSweet, Equal, Spoonful, and Equal-Measure.)

H. J. Roberts, M.D., who declared Aspartame Disease to be a global plague has now published a medical text titled Aspartame Disease: An Ignored Epidemic. On page 506 he discusses the deterioration of intelligence and learning skills in aspartame reactors, as evidenced by slippage in school performance. He says "It may take a generation or longer to ascertain the full extent of this problem." On Page 561 he discusses comparable problems with memory among, younger aspartame reactors and how they have been attributed to premature aging. He says this ties into the acceleration of Alzheimers Disease. "The need for considering exposure to aspartame and other neurotoxins before making a diagnosis of premature aging is paramount." . In an earlier book he also discusses. Dr. Roberts said: "I have observed severe intellectual deterioration associated with the use of aspartame products. It was usually manifest as great difficulty in reading and writing, obvious problems with memory and grossly impaired orientation to time, place and person. In some patients these features cleared slowly after the avoidance of aspartame."
Ralph Walton, M.D., Psychiatrist, Chairman of the Center for Behavioral Medicine: "We have known for years that when aspartame is ingested with a carbohydrate rich meal the usual physiologic increase in tryptophan is blocked, while brain phenylalanine and tyrosine concentrations are increased. These changes in amino acid blocked neurotransmitter precursors could, I believe, alter indoleamine/catechloamine balance, and thus have a profound effect on mood and cognition....depressed mood, anxiety, dizziness, panic attacks, nausea, irritability, impairment of memory and concentration."

James Bowen, M.D. - "Lying and deceit on the artificial sweetener issue has been the FDA's Modus Operandi ever since Donald Rummsfeld broke everything decent in the US government to put Aspartame on the market as a "contract on humanity". It has no commercial purpose other than a contract on humanity. Either they have done but little testing of sucralose, or they are so afraid of what the public would think of sucralose, and the government if the public but knew what was going on, that they will not tell us! BECAUSE: we have been told nothing about the extensive studies which would have to have been done if very reasonable, and scientifically sound FDA rules had been followed."

Coca Cola, Pepsi, Nutra Sweet Sued in California - 06 April 2004 - Lawsuits were filed in three separate California courts against twelve companies who either produce or use the artificial sweetener aspartame as a sugar substitute in their products. The suits were filed in Shasta, Sonoma and Butte County, California.
Racketeering Charges Filed Against Companies for Manufacturing and Marketing Toxic Aspartame The National Justice League recently filed a $350 Million Class Action lawsuit on September 15, 2004 in San Francisco, California, Federal District Court against Nutrasweet, Monsanto, The American Diabetes Association and Dr. Robert H. Moser, former FDA Commissioner.
Sweet Poison: How the World's Most Popular Artificial Sweetener Is Killing Us
Aspartame Detoxification program
The Potential Dangers of Sucralose (Splenda)
Rebuilding the Immune System: The body's defense department
Epidemic of multiple sclerosis and systemic lupus related to aspartame
Parkinson Disease Related to Aspartame?

James Bowen, M.D., author of Billions Of People Are Now Aspartame Victims, told the FDA years ago "Every known metabolite of aspartame is of marked or questionable toxicity and patently unsafe for human use." In Aspartame Murders Infants he said: "At every point in the fertility process aspartame (NutraSweet/Equal/Spoonful/Canderal/Benevia, etc.) destroys. ....It ruins female sexual response and induces male sexual dysfunction. Beyond this, aspartame disrupts fetal development by aborting it or inducing defects. And if a live child is born aspartame may have heinously damaged the DNA of the baby cursing future generation." See his paper on Sperm Warfare. We are now taking case histories for class action on aspartame starting with seizures, brain tumors, eye deterioration and blindness, etc.
The FDA has received over 5,500 complaints against Aspartame (NutraSweet), which was legalized amid controversy regarding the capacity of this substance to alter brain hormone balances; some 9% of the complaints today involve serious neurological effects, including seizures. A recent major study by UCLA researchers of 109 patent-drug advertisements found 81% to be "inaccurate, misleading and even dangerous." A General Accounting Office report found that 51.5% of patent drugs approved by the FDA between 1978 and 1986 had "serious post-approval risks" not disclosed on originally-approved package inserts, including "heart failure, myocardial infarction, anaphylaxis, respiratory depression, convulsions, seizures, kidney and liver failure, severe blood disorders, birth defects and blindness"

Excerpt from Anti-Constitutional Activities and Abuse of Police Power by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and other Federal Agencies by James DeMeo, Ph.D. Director of Research Orgone Biophysical Research Laboratory

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Sweet Poison: How the World's Most Popular Artificial Sweetener Is Killing Us - My Story by Janet Starr Hull

Millions of dieters using chemical sweeteners will be shocked by firefighter Janet Starr Hull's story. Diagnosed with a deadly case of Grave's Disease after she collapsed on the job, Hull was told she would die. Searching for the cause of her illness, Hull discovered that the chemical sweetener aspartame found in Nutrasweet was to blame.

After a personal illness caused by the artificial sweetener aspartame found in NutraSweet/Equal, Hull exposes the hidden truths behind the dangers of this popular sugar-substitute. Don't pick up another diet drink until you have read her riveting story.

Her book details how the FDA first determined that aspartame was unsafe for humans, then later reversed itself. She obtained documents revealing the chemicals that constitute aspartame and how those chemicals behave in the human body.

Sweet Poison is a must-read for anyone consuming food or drinks containing aspartame. At the least, it will open your eyes to what you're putting in your body. It might even save your life.

Although sacharin had gotten a bad rap at first because of cancers in rats, most anti aspertame, anti splenda activist,consider it better than these two, personally I'm trying stevia, but it needs alot of sunlight, but not heat to grow.
I don't want Rumsfeld desease, and need a sugar substitute because of flareups with gout.